Why Snowden and Those Like Him are Heros, Not Traitors...

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual.  Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities, freedom or democracy." -- Ayn Rand

Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.  Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation/poem, "First They Came for the Jews…"

The quotation below stems from Niemöller's lectures during the early postwar period. Different versions exist and refer to diverse groups such as Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Trade Unionists, Communists or others because Niemöller spoke extemporaneously and in a number of settings.

Nonetheless, his point was that Germans--in particular, church leaders--were complicit by their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution and murder of millions of people.

It is happening again.  Perhaps, it never stopped.

"First They Came for the Jews"

By Pastor Niemoller

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. 

Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

 

"v. 2013"

By Alara Rogers, www.alara.net

First they came for the hackers.
But I never did anything illegal with my computer,
so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for the pornographers.
But I thought there was too much smut on the Internet anyway,
so I didn't speak up

Then they came for the anonymous remailers.
But a lot of nasty stuff gets sent from anon.penet.fi,
so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for the encryption users.
But I could never figure out how to work PGP anyway,
so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for me because I said in an email that it seemed regular people lost a lot of privacy. 

They said it was for national safety and security...

But by that time there was no one left to speak up.